Food & Light: Photography Tips from Diane Cu

She’s a blogger, food stylist, and professional photographer, in conjunction with her husband, Todd Porter, who makes up the other half of White on Rice Couple.

If you’re not familiar with her work

It would be in your best interest to get familiar with her work, their work, because it’s phenomenal.

That image on the screen? One.Shot.

She styled the peapods in just a couple minutes and clicked her camera once.

I take 20 minutes to food style, she takes 1.

I take 20 pics, she takes 1.

Must be nice. <—No, it just means she has practiced, practiced, practiced along with having natural gifts!

The salad?

A whopping 2 frames to get her money shot.

Shooting teathered, i.e. the image from the camera appears on a screen in real time, is cool! I could theoretically shoot teathered in my house. May help me take less frames of images that look nearly identical. But I haven’t tried that yet. And probably won’t. A bit much for household photography.

These notes from Diane’s lecture at Food & Light are worth their weight in gold.

Story, Mood, & Feel

Your message, voice, what you want to say

Your eyes are your best lens; your heart is your shutter

Don’t pick up your camera until you know what you want to say and convey. Create pictures in your sleep, in other times of your day so that when you do pick up your camera, you have your story, mood, and feel ready.

Focus on:

The hero/beauty

Balance

Texture, i.e. Napa Cabbage on a plate as a bed for chicken wings; can be thick, thin, Julienned, etc.

Color

Lines & Symmetry (both horizontal & vertical)

Movement/motion; we see in 3D with our eyes but photos are 2D. Challenge is to bring out the 3D qualities. i.e. For something like a cherry stem, use a curved one, not a straight one, because the curved will add movement.

Height

Motion

Choose the Best Possible Subjects

Highlight individual ingredients: Choose your star

Smaller scale

Less is More – Don’t prop hoard the food shot

Simple.Less is more. Monochromatic.

Styling tips:

Huge wood panels at Home Depot for $20. Can cut them down and paint them as needed for backdrops to go under food.

Cheese boards that are wood, $3 each, from a cheese store. Paint them.

Tiles from Home Depot as backdrops

Book Cloth (like linen but it doesn’t wrinkle, comes in big rolls and sheets. Can get it at art supply store, or Papyrus). Gives both texture and an add color without having to use linens, i.e. iron or have the linen be too small

Men’s handkerchiefs

Cocktail napkins. Smaller size, cheaper, than regular linen napkins.

With linens don’t have it be perfect, have some of the fabric raised because it creates movement

Parchment paper on top of dishes, will give texture and movement

Add some height to the food, i.e. stacking it

When adding accessories & props to the shot, i.e. small bowls or other dishes in the frame, cut it off, keep on the corner. Or it will detract from the main ingredient/image. Focus on the main dish in frame; accompaniments secondary. The more you add, the more it detracts from the main element.

1. Have you ever watched someone in action doing something and you think to yourself, this person is just truly gifted in this particular endeavor or pursuit?

And isn’t it just magical to watch someone do something that they truly excel at!

They have found their calling, their path. And to see watch it is beautiful!

Diane is to food styling and photography what Tiger Woods is to golf, or what Michael Jordan was to basketball or what a wonderful pianist can bring out of a Beethoven piece or what a talented makeup artist can do with the blank canvas of the human face. Enhancing and bringing out the natural beauty.

2. What do you feel like you’re good at? What comes naturally to you?

For me, I am a natural sales person. I can talk. I can sell snow to Eskimos and have the ability to persuade, convince, and win over. I can make a friend with a stranger, and sell them something. It runs in the family on one side. My uncle is the same way.

Photography? Cooking? Recipe development? Blogging? <– Some of those things come more naturally than others to me.

wow, between yesterday and today, you are sharing a GOLDMINE of tips, averie. thank you from the bottom of my heart because these are suggestions that ANYONE can make use of. if you shared tech details, i’d be so lost – these ideas, i can understand, apply, benefit from.
so glad you are getting this opportunity!!
i just came back from a yoga class – yogis inspire me and i am in awe of the grace and power i see in various poses.
i feel i’m good at my job. talking running, sales – it feels very natural, very fun to me. it’s not work!

That is so cool Averie — I love all of the tips (the wood planks, handkerchiefs, etc) — I can’t wait to see those tips show up in your future posts!

I love seeing people in their element, doing something they are excellent at: sports, salespeople that I work with, Jason schmoozing with people (that is definitely his gift and not mine!), my Mom playing the piano, my Dad telling a story, etc. People just SHINE when they are doing what they love.

1. Yes, many times. The most recent was Cherie Soria in action preparing food at the Raw Health Fest.
2. Computers, I can usually figure new technology out quick. And I’m getting a lot more comfortable with flavor pairing and food photography.

I love the White on Rice Couple! This post was very helpful Averie. Thank you for taking the time to right out all your notes. When I shoot, I just do it and not much thought goes into it… I think I definitely need to find a better place to take pictures, but unfortunately that would involve moving or not shooting at my home (which obv isn’t realistic)… so I work with what I have. I end up not being able to take very many variations of angles, but I’m going to try and really work on this. I also like the less is more theory. Sometimes I see pictures on FG or TS with a bunch of ‘ish in the picture that would never ever be there in real life. I try not to do this, but it’s hard! I’m going to try and implement the ‘instead of a huge bunch of basil, use a few leaves’. So many great tips here!!

I feel like I’m a ‘natural’ at recipe creation, but not as great as ‘being a blogger’. I love taking pictures and feel I’m better at that than the actual writing in my posts. For me it goes like this… I’m a good cook that likes to take pictures of her creations and then posting it on her blog for fun ;)

first of all: Thank you so much Averie, for sharing your experience with us. That is so incredibly kind of you.
1) yes! And I love watching.
2) I am a sales person, too ;) Also, cooking and “being with children” comes super natural to me, as well as swimming does. And I do have an eye for photography :)

I enjoy them immensly!
haha, thanks, but I am actually studying marketing and communications ;) BUT: I am currently an aupair for the second time around and I am planning on having 4 children :) So, there you have it, very nurturing indeed ;) And like my mum, a home birth midwife, I am very caring ;)

Oh Averie, your photos are just gorgeous!! I just started following White on Rice Couple. Thank you so much for sharing your notes, I can’t wait to put them all into a little cheat sheet and keep them in my “studio”. It’s almost as good as being there!

What comes naturally? Not photography. School definitely comes naturally to me. Not too much work, but a lot of success. I wish I were more creative though! I used to be a natural writer, I’m getting back into it!

Thank you thank you for your notes! It’s so helpful and kind of you to share these tidbits, as I find them really interesting and useful. Your pictures are looking more and more beautiful every post you put up. Something that comes natural to me… being a good listener. I’m not as much a talker, but I prefer to listen, ask questions, and give advice and I think I’m good at it!

I loved her styling shot of the salad! Thank you for showing some of the “behind the shoot” photos. I feel like I am in a bubble and have no real idea how other people photograph. Oh, BTW, you might want to mention to White on Rice couple that their website seems to be acting funny. When I click onto it, some advertisements pop up instead of their site. Hope its temporary. Keep clicking!

:| okay… I seriously need to come to the next workshop, where ever and when ever it is. I WISH I could get the money shot in one go. Just wow. You did a fantastic job on the cupcakes. Can’t wait to see how you translate these new skills into the food photography on your blog!

Those are some really great tips, thank you for passing them on. I particularly liked this – “Don’t pick up your camera until you know what you want to say and convey. Create pictures in your sleep, in other times of your day so that when you do pick up your camera, you have your story, mood, and feel ready.”

This is fabulous – thanks so much for reposting her notes! I must get to this next year – that is, if they hold another one! One thing I really need to get wired up, is the tethering – it would cut down on my shots tremendously! I’m finding I shoot a million images because I have a hard time checking the focus on the LCD and then never erase them from my computer – Insert: computer crashing :) So many things to do (and/or buy, haha)

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your notes and for not keeping them to yourself; I’ve no clue about food photography, but would like to know more, so your posts are immensely helpful and inspiring! x
PS: I am also going to purchase the Plate to Pixel (?) book based on your rave review ;-)

Thanks for mentioning my pin in your post and for reading my site. I have lots of other links in my photography page that includes summaries of some of the photography-related trips I’ve been on, too.http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/photography

after all these months of my search, this has been by far the best summary, tips, and short quick notes on internet in one page for food photography, at least for beginners.
checking out your other posts now.

I was at one of Diane’s workshops where she shot a harmburger & chips. It was one of the coolest workshops and I learned so much. It wasn’t even hands-on, so I can’t imagine how cool it would be to take an interactive workshop. Awesome post!